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A German Alchemist, Joseph Conrad Dipple and the German artist, Heinrich Diesbach, accidentally discovered the color "Prussian Blue," a marvelous shade of deep blue-green, still popular today. Diesbach used some of Dipple's famous oil (aptly named "Dipple's Oil") while trying to make a shade of red to paint with. When the oil was used in place of potassium carbonate, the result was not red, but a striking shade of blue. Dipple immediately saw the potential to market such a unique color.

Originally called "Berlin Blue" (because the discovery was made in Berlin) the ready availability of the color had a huge influence on art in Europe. Before Dipple and Diesbach's discovery, blue was a hard shade to come by. Plant pigments used to create the color blue were expensive. Now artists and clothing manufactures could use blue dyes in their products, without having to raise prices. With the new synthetic Prussian Blue (called PB in science) people were able to paint entire rooms in their houses cheaply. It is one reason blue became such a popular color during the late eighteenth century, through the nineteenth century. (Think of the shade of Federal Blue so often seen in the art and houses of Early America.)

Today the chemical PB is used in ink, paint, laundry bluing, dyes, and blue-prints. As one of the oldest synthetic compounds, it has been studied by scientists since its discovery in 1704.

Side Note:
Joseph Conrad Dipple sometimes went by the last name Von Frankenstein, after the castle in which he was born. It has been suggested that this eccentric German chemist is the inspiration for Mary Shelley's gothic horror novel "Frankenstein."

For the full story on this interesting piece of Frankenstein trivia, visit http://weuropeanhistory.suite1 01.com/blogs.cfm#this_day_in_h istory

Learn more about this author, Lorri Mealey.
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